Table of contents for July 2022 in Guitar Techniques

Tap the links Finding your way around the magazine is easy. Tapping the feature titles on the cover or the contents page, takes you straight two the relevant articles. Any web and email links in the text are tappable too Animated tab & audio All the mag’s main lessons have the audio built in with a moving cursor that shows you exactly where you are in the music. Simply tap the ‘play’ button and you’re off - you can fast-forward or scroll back at will. Play the videos Certain articles have accompanying videos full of useful insight and additional information. Once again, tap the play buttons to enjoy video masterclasses on your iPad (recommended) or smartphone.…

At the start of 2022 I decided to take up Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I just wasn’t getting injured enough by running, pilates and lifting! And I’ve mentioned before the many similarities between martial arts and learning an instrument. But I’ve just made another new connection that might help you on your guitar journey… When you start digging into something, like I hope many of you do on guitar, it is exciting and overwhelming when you realise just how much there is to learn. I’ve been really struggling with it in BJJ, it’s kind of like physical chess where you learn a move, and then all the different counters and then what to do for each one. The more you practise the more you start to see which type of moves you…

➊ Sweet Groove Blues (E) We start with a simple Blues in E, where you can mix the E Major Pentatonic (E-F#-G#-B-C#) with E Minor Pentatonic (E-G-A-B-D). This is from my brand new jam album, Into The Blues, Vol. 7. ➋ Slow Jazzy Blues -GMinor Here we are in G Minor, where G Minor Pentatonic (G-Bb-C-D-F) and the G Minor scale (G-A-Bb-C-D-Eb-F) are your first points of interest. For the Dominant chords (D7), use G Harmonic Minor (G-A-Bb-C-D-Eb-F#). ➌ CMinor II-V-I Groove Jazz Here’s a fun groove jam made for practising that essential building block of jazz; the II-V-I progression. Arpeggios are Dm7b5 (D-F-Ab-C), G7 (G-B-D-F) and Cm7 (C-Eb-G-Bb). ➍ EDorian Vampr We finish with a fun and simple E Dorian-based two-chord vamp on a blues shuffle beat. Aside from…

ON VIDEO This month we have an exclusive masterclass from rock guitar legend Steve Stevens. Steve exploded onto the 1980s rock scene with his exciting blend of melodic soloing and catchy riff work. He has enjoyed a fabulous career (from the Top Gun movie theme to Michael Jackson) and has been writing and recording with Billy Idol for over 30 years. Jason Sidwell’s tune, Splash The Stash is tailored to allow Steve’s style to shine. The track has a hard, driving hard rock feel with a tempo of 106 bpm and strong chord changes, mostly based in the key of G Major. There are four sections to navigate and these are the verse, bridge, pre-chorus and chorus. For the opening chorus and verse, Steve composed strong melodic statements. These motifs…

Brought to you by… Joanna Shaw Taylor is a blues-rock guitarist, singer and songwriter from the UK. Like many of the great players we’ve explored in this column, Joanne was making a name for herself at just 16 years old. Dave Stewart of Euthrythmics invited her to join his supergroup after hearing her play and now, seven albums into her career, she has earned the praise of Jimmy Cliff, Joe Bonamassa, Stevie Wonder and Annie Lennox, to name just a few. Growing up in the West Midlands, Joanne came from a music loving family, her father having been a guitar enthusiast in his earlier years. Joanne started out with classical guitar lessons at school and quickly fell in love with playing the instrument. At round 13 years old her dad…

Brought to you by… Over the last three articles we have looked at some of the key styles of reggae music and a variety of approaches to playing guitar in the genre. These different approaches, from skank rhythms to lead guitar lines, have influenced many other styles over the following decades. Later artists have adopted the feel and groove of reggae to pay homage to the originators of the genre. This month I’m looking at how certain artists have fused reggae with their own styles of music. The bands and artists I have chosen to explore are The Police, Stevie Wonder, and 311. The Police have always worn their reggae influences proudly. With Sting and Stuart Copeland holding down the bass and drums respectively, guitarist Andy Summers often used a…

Brought to you by… LCCM Where music matters This month we’ll examine how we can get a bluesy sound over a diatonic Major scale based chord progression, where the tonic blues scale won’t fit. Diatonic means that the notes used are within the tonic scale - in this case the Major scale. The solution is to use a Blues scale based on the Relative Minor. For example, if we’re in the key of G Major, the relative Minor is E Minor (a Minor 3rd down from the tonic chord). I didn’t want to commit it to a recording but please try, at least once, to make the tonic Blues scale work over any of the chord sequences here - it’s probably not going to be pretty. If you use the…

SIMON BARNARD Simon is a graduate of ACM and The Guitar Institute, holding a Masters degree in music. He teaches, examines and plays everything from rock to jazz. DECLAN ZAPALA Declan is a one of the UK’s top classical guitarists and teachers. His technical command is phenomenal, and his arrangements are sublimely creative. JON BISHOP Jon is one of those great all-rounders who can turn his hand to almost any style. He’s also rock legend Shakin’ Stevens’ touring and recording guitarist. MARTIN COOPER A tutor at BIMM Brighton, Martin’s Rock columns show an incredible breadth of technique and style. His 2006 album State Of The Union is out on iTunes. CHARLIE GRIFFITHS Guitar Institute tutor Charlie first came to fame in Total Guitar’s Challenge Charlie series. He’s also guitarist with…

Last issue, we worked against the natural layout of the guitar somewhat, creating close-voiced chords containing clusters of adjacent scale notes. Here, we’re doing the opposite, spacing chords across all six strings and leaving lots of room between each note, aiming for an open, airy sound. We’re using the same Em-Am-Em-B7 progression as our starting point, allowing you to compare the contrasting results. BOTH approaches illustrate the enormous benefit of learning chord theory. If you don’t know what notes belong in a chord, you’re restricted to standard chord shapes. If you know the notes of, for example, E Minor (E-G-B), you have the freedom to place them wherever you like across the full range of the guitar. In all of these shapes, almost all the intervals between the notes are…

GT : What is it about guitar instrumentals that appeals to you? JK: The song has to evoke a mood, whether it be melancholy, eerie, soulful or sexy. It has to give me something more than just 'play ahead and blow over the changes'. Of course, having said that, it’s brilliant when great jazz musicians do it right. GT: What can an instrumental provide a listener that a vocal song can't? JK: Since there are no lyrics and vocals to tell the story, there's more room for the listener to interpret what the writer is going for. The song could unfold like a story or a journey. I like to take the listener on a trip. I put all the tools to work, utilising the dynamic range of the band…

Pat Martino was a jazz legend, an energetic, dynamic and virtuoso performer with a style that embodied the best traditional elements of jazz, but with an approach that sounded fresh and uniquely his own. Pat’s recording career began in Philadelphia in the early ’60s, both as a sideman to artists such as Jack McDuff and Jimmy Smith, but also with a string of successful recordings as a bandleader in his own right. Tragically, in 1980 he suffered a near fatal brain aneurism, which left him with complete amnesia. A remarkable display of determination and the power of human recovery saw TECHNIQUE FOCUS: Minor Topics One of the biggest challenges facing the aspiring jazz improviser is the seemingly endless variety of chord types and in the speed in which they jump…

Brought to you by… Dire Straits were formed in 1977 by brothers Mark and David Knopfler, with both brothers playing guitar and Mark also singing lead vocals. They were joined in the early years by bass player John Illsley and drummer Pick Withers, and it is this line-up that recorded its debut album in 1978. The band’s sound was markedly different to their contemporaries and shared more in common with generic pub rock than it did with punk, disco or rock of the late 1970s. Following a gig at London’s Rock Garden in 1977 the band were turned down in their initial attempts to sign a record deal, but after the demo version of Sultans Of Swing gained some radio play, they were immediately signed by Vertigo Records. The debut…

Brought to you by… FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES Welcome to the first lesson in my economy picking series for GT. This lesson will help you understand the principles of economy picking and give you a practice routine for development. As the name suggests, economy picking is a system for increasing picking efficiency by making the most of directional motions between strings. Economy picking differs from alternate picking in the way string changes are handled. Alternate picking uses opposing motions, where the pick stroke that completes one string in a stream of notes will be opposite to the pick stroke that begins the next string. A down stroke on the third string, for example, would be followed by an upstroke if we immediately switched to the second string. The pick must pass down…

ALBUM OF THE MONTH THE BROS LANDRETH -COME MORNING (Birthday Cake) 10/10 Hankering for new songs that blend Americana (folk to roots rock) and soul? This might be the album of the year for you then, as The Bros Landreth are back with 10 songs rich in atmosphere, taste and musical craftsmanship. Joey Landreth is the singer and lead guitarist with brother David on bass, and this is their seventh album. While the songs have an evergreen vibe the production is savvy to modern trends - there’s an intimate dryness for many instruments, like you’re in the room with the band. Joey’s tasteful guitar work is worth highlighting - he favours open C tuning and a slide on his fourth finger, enticing soulful and rootsy playing. He also has…

GT :Do you have a type of pick that you can’t live without? SK:I use Jim Dunlop 1mm nylon grip picks. These picks are very important because of the grip. I sweat profusely and need a pick that doesn’t slip out of my fingers or out of position when playing soaked in sweat. GT: If you had to give up all your pedals but three, what would they be? (And why) SK: My distortion, EQ and echo - all the pedals I use anyway. I would have to use a separate tuner. If it was down to two pedals, then distortion and echo. If down to one pedal, distortion. No pedals -I’d need a different amp!! “Jealousy is a wasted emotion! Admiration is a far more appropriate term. But I…

Let’s face it. It comes to us all. And I refer not to the acquisition of yet another new overdrive pedal. (‘The Elevenator’? ‘Metal To The Pedal’? ‘Cognitive Distortion’? ) No. I speak of my latest encounter with The Building Trade and the conversion of the attic at stately Mitch Manor. Lest you think you’ve blundered and purchased this month’s glossy edition of Grand Designs, let me reassure. Unless you were really after a copy of Glamour Model Railway Enthusiast all along, obvs. But we digress. As box after box of astonishing tat mixed with vestigial quantities of priceless memorabilia was passed through the roof and into storage, I literally stumbled upon one particular cardboard container, garnished with a medley of dead spiders, mixed dirt and the juice of half…

We guitarists love our moment to shine, when we get to that part of the song when we step into the spotlight and wow the crowd with our insane soloing skills! Sure, it takes a huge amount of time, practice and dedication to get to that level of ability. But how much of our practice time do we spend on our rhythm guitar skills; the ‘meat and potatoes’ of what we do? In a ‘regular’ band, with songs and vocals, we’ll probably spend more time ‘in the background’, playing rhythm and backing up the singer or another soloist, and not doing so ourselves. So it’s just as important that our rhythm guitar skills get the attention they deserve. In this month’s feature, we’re looking at how these skills apply to…

ON VIDEO On the 15th April 1912 the British passenger liner, the RMS Titanic, struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic ocean just five days into its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. There were several reports by those who survived that the haunting hymn presented in this month’s classical arrangement could be heard echoing around during the ship’s final moments and would have been played by the eight-piece house band led by violinist Wallace Henry Hartley, all of whom perished on that fateful night. The same song was sung by the crew of the SS Valencia when it sank off the coast of Canada just six years earlier so this hymn has a long association with the demise of ships. Nearer My God To Thee…

Brought to you by… Shawn Lane was born in Memphis in March 1963. Shawn started playing the family piano and developed a style very similar to his guitar technique, with waves of fast notes and structures more akin to modern classical music. After picking up the guitar he joined southern rock band Black Oak Arkansas, with whom he played at Bill Clinton’s inauguration as Governor of Arkansas in 1979. By his late teens Shawn had developed his mind-boggling speed, and it is at this point that shred guitar producer Mark Varney invited him to appear on the 1991 album Centrifugal Funk, alongside Brett Garsed and Frank Gambale. His 1992 solo album Powers Of Ten put Shawn on the map, his esoteric combination of jazz, classical and rock styles showing a…

ON VIDEO This month we are examining the style of ‘The Alabama Wild Man’, Jerry Reed. Reed’s signature funky style is probably best described as ‘musical gumbo’, a melting pot of country, blues, jazz and much more all held together by such an infectious groove created on his nylon-string guitar. Born in Atlanta, Georgia on March 20th, 1937, Jerry took up guitar as a child and by 19 was a professional musician and songwriter – initial success came in 1958 when rockabilly legend Gene Vincent covered his track Crazy Legs. His career leapt forward when he moved to Nashville in 1961 and he became popular as both a songwriter and session musician in the country world – in 1967 Elvis Presley tracked him down to record guitar on his cover…

Learn the acoustic and electric techniques of... Play: Slow Electric Blues, Uptempo Rock, Acoustic Picking, Celtic Folk, Slide! FEATURE #2 VIDEO JEFF KOLLMAN Hot To Trot Alan Parsons, Glenn Hughes and Chad Smith’s six-stringer tackles and explains his solo on an all-new tune. NEW SERIES! CHRIS BROOKS Economy picking mastery The superb Australian guitarist, writer and teacher continues to uncover the secrets of this great picking technique. CLASSICAL TAB DOMENICO SCARLATTI Sonata Declan Zapala arranges and transcribes this beautiful sonata to enrich your classical repertoire. FEATURE #3 JIMMIE VAUGHAN Developing soloing riffs He’s a favourite of Clapton and even Satriani. John Wheatcroft asks what we can learn from the Texan titan. STYLE STUDIES & MORE 30-Minute Lickbag Six licks at three ability levels Eric Gales Play two solos in his…